Eager to serve

Irvine residents Alana Aronson, 20, of Irvine, from left, and Lindsey Peterson, 19, say good bye to Kellie McDougle, 19, who is leaving on Jan. 22 for an 18-month Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) mission in Ohio.CINDY YAMANAKA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

By the numbers

58,000 missionaries are serving in 347 missions in more than 200 countries.

15 percent are women.

471 percent increase in the number of weekly applications after LDS Church lowered minimum age for women and men to 19 and 18, respectively (down from 21 and 19)

50 percent of new applicants are women.

Men serve for two years, women for 18 months

Source: LDS Media Relations manager Eric Hawkins

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has reduced the minimum age requirement to go on a mission. Men can now leave a year earlier, at 18, while women can serve at 19, down from 21.

Before the announcement last fall, the LDS Church received an average of 700 new mission applications per week. That number jumped to 4,000 in the weeks following the announcement.

"We were all pretty stoked that we could go right away," says Garrett Moreland, 18, who applied two days after the rule change. Two months later he got his mission calling to Madrid, Spain. The Irvine-native ships off in March.

While both men and women are encouraged to serve missions if they are spiritually ready and economically able, there is decidedly more pressure on young men to go on a mission for the LDS church. Only 15 percent of the 58,000 missionaries currently serving are women.

And yet fully half of the new applicants are women, according to an LDS news release. Kellie McDougle, also from Irvine, said she was sitting next to her friend, also 19, at the general conference meeting in Salt Lake City when the announcement was made.

"We both looked at each other and started crying. It meant that we could leave earlier than we thought."

The reduced age requirement is particularly significant for young Mormon women, who otherwise might be married or pursuing a career by the time they are 21, said McDougle, who leaves this month for a mission in Columbus, Ohio.

The median age at the time of their first marriage for women in Utah is 24, among the lowest of the 50 states, according to a 2008 American Community Survey. More than 62 percent of Utah residents are LDS.

Katherine Kimball, another 19-year-old from Irvine, has also received a mission calling to Peru and leaves in May. Kimball had been going to school at Brigham Young University year-round to graduate before she turned 21. Like McDougle and Moreland, who also attend BYU, the rule change means Kimball will be putting her studies on hold.

"Why wait to make your life better?" she said. "You learn to live in another country that you never knew before. It expands your entire world."

Of the five women who were living in Kimball's apartment last summer, four of them have applied and received callings to missions around the world, including in the Philippines, Chile and Northern California.

Kimball says she plans on attending law school after her mission, but concedes that 18 months abroad might alter those plans. Her former roommate was planning on going into nursing before she went on her mission (also to Peru). She has since decided to pursue public health and is returning to Peru this summer.

Regardless of where her mission experience might lead her, Kimball says she feels blessed that she even gets to go.

"My mom really wanted to serve a mission, but she got married just before that 21 mark."

Irvine residents Alana Aronson, 20, of Irvine, from left, and Lindsey Peterson, 19, say good bye to Kellie McDougle, 19, who is leaving on Jan. 22 for an 18-month Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) mission in Ohio. CINDY YAMANAKA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Kate Kimball is going to Peru in May to serve a 18-month mission with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She is leaving two years earlier than planned, now that a new rule allows women to serve at 19. COURTESY OF KATE KIMBALL
Alana Aronson, 20, of Irvine, wishes Kellie McDougle, 19, well. McDougle, a Brigham Young University sophomore, will return to school after an 18-month LDS missionary trip to Ohio. CINDY YAMANAKA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Irvine residents Natalie Aronson, 20, foreground left, and her twin sister Alana, right, try to pick up Kellie McDougle, 19, for a group photo. More than 30 friends and family attend a farewell party for McDougle who is leaving on 18 month LDS mission on Jan 22 in Ohio. CINDY YAMANAKA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Kellie McDougle,19, right, chooses from several homemade desserts which are decorated with "Sister McDougle The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" celebrating her upcoming Jan. 22 missionary trip to Ohio. CINDY YAMANAKA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Irvine residents Natalie Aronson, 20, from left, missionary-to-be Kellie McDougle,19, Lindsey Peterson, 19, and Aronson's twin sister Alana celebrate at McDougle's going away party. CINDY YAMANAKA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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